Transmutation characteristics in thermal and fast neutron spectra: application to americium

Assessment of americium and curium transmutation in magnesia based targets in different spectral zones of an experimental accelerator driven system

“…The amount of the disappeared MA is higher in channel Q, but at the cost of a higher increase in Cm content. This is due to the more thermal spectrum in channel Q, which fits, in general, with results published earlier by Berthou et al [10].…”

ECRIX-H experiment: Synthesis of post-irradiation examinations and simulations

“…More details related to 241 Am transmutation paths can be found in Ref. [12]. Measured concentrations of heavy elements in the targets after irradiation are consistent with the above-mentioned main transmutation path.…”

“…The increased cross sections due to the slowed neutrons, combined with the high neutron flux in an FR, made it possible to achieve high efficiency in minor actinide transmutation [12]. The additional ECRIX-B irradiation device unloaded from the Phenix reactor in May 2008 differed from ECRIX-H by its moderating material, boron carbide ( 11 B 4 C) [13].…”

Swelling under irradiation of MgO pellets containing americium oxide: The ECRIX-H irradiation experiment

“…When combined with a high neutron flux in a fast reactor, the increased cross-sections due to the delayed neutrons makes it possible to achieve greater minor actinide transmutation efficiency [29].…”

“…In the ECRIX-H pellets, large amounts of He gas were produced due to the decay of the activation products 242 Cm (t 1/2 = 163 d) through to 238 Pu [29]. The pin pressure was measured by gas puncturing and was 0.26 ± 0.05 MPa, consisting mainly of He (97 vol.%).…”